The best Cartography books: Reddit reviews

From 3.5 billion Reddit comments

Meanwhile the Soviets, with their obsessive love of mapping, probably had the entire building plotted out down to the ductwork by 1981.

https://www.amazon.com/How-Maps-Third-Mark-Monmonier/dp/022643592X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1545242150&sr=8-1&keywords=how+to+lie+with+maps

Awesome book any GIS nerd will love.

I highly recommend Cynthia Brewer’s book on cartographic design. There’s so much useful stuff to guide or inspire you. Although it’s ESRI press, it really doesn’t matter if you’re an Arc user or not.

Check out Cindy Brewer’s book Designing Better Maps for some guidance on map design itself.

Then I suggest checking out the works of John Nelson who does cool things with custom designs.

Cynthia Brewer's (the Brewer in colorbrewer) two books are very good too.

Designing Better Maps is more like a guidebook/textbook on how to make your maps look good. Chapters on layout, symbols, color, labelling, etc. The typography/labelling section is particularly good, especially if you haven't thought about it much before.

Designed Maps: A Sourcebook for GIS Users is a big reference book with example maps in different categories. Good to flip through and find inspiration for how to handle situations you might run into.

Both are ArcGIS based, but the lessons apply anywhere and the majority of the content is about the theory of making maps look good rather than "use X tool with Y setting"

Ah, you want to Lie with Maps, gotcha. Now you have the link to the book.

There are a lot of people in California since they are the largest populous state, which has around 40 million right now, so it's not surprising that 6 million people voted for the former pres but that large number is still not the majority of the state.

I have this book 'transit maps of the world' with the subway systems of cities around the world. Its interesting to see how some smaller cities have relatively elaborate systems and some major cities have very little.

https://www.amazon.com/Transit-Maps-World-Worlds-Collection/dp/0143112651

"for simplicity sake" sounds like you've got a pre-decided point you are trying to make, and chose the visualization that supports that.

See: How to Lie with Maps and How to Lie with Statistics

Man muss einfach die Grenzwerte für die Farbübergänge und den Zeitraum geschickt wählen. Gibt sogar Bücher über sowas: https://www.amazon.de/How-Maps-Third-Mark-Monmonier/dp/022643592X/?tag=dsble-21

Und falls es nicht offensichtlich war: das ist ein Spaßpost über Scheinkorrelationen.

Another try: "Maphead - Charting the Wide, Weird World of Geography Wonks" - Ken Jennings "Here be monsters" is mentioned in book description on back cover. https://www.amazon.com/Maphead-Charting-Weird-World-Geography/dp/1439167184/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=

Dude, I read about map projections before you were born. I’m not speaking from ignorance, I’m arguing from basic principles.

In principle, there is NO sharp dividing line between “map” and “globe.” And globes are covered with maps that are distorted to fit on a globe.

To really blow your mind, you should read this:

The Power of Maps by Denis Wood

You will never look at maps the same way again.

I'm all about transit maps. I recently went into an Amazon store and found a coffee table book which is basically the /r/gonewild of transit maps.

I recently picked up Great Maps, and think it's really good introduction to the history and the craft of mapmaking. It has great, large photos of the maps, detail insets, and excellent commentary. Both a great coffee table book and super informative.

I haven't read it yet, but a new edition of Designing Better Maps came out last year.

I highly recommend The Cartographer's Toolkit by Gretchen Peterson. It is a visual book showing quality techniques, fonts, colors, etc. A good easy reference to increase your map visual appeal.

Also check out your local library and search for books on cartography (you will probably have to interlibrary loan them). I a fun read is Maphead which I found at my library.

Thanks, I looked at a bit of preview, seems a bit biopic and interesting like you said as a light read. I may take Tufte off my list as some reviews seems he's a bit pompous on design standards.

I'm looking at the Cartographer's Toolkit as wellwhich is more of a design focus

There's a great chapter in Ken Jenning's book Maphead that deals with fantasy maps.

You are a self-described Geography Geek, but how did you get the high level of knowledge in that area? Are there some concise books or collections of capitals, rivers, and interesting geological features? (other than a map, smart guy) Something that will teach someone the basics of the Geography field, and notable places, maybe a geography-feature-a-day website?

(I apologize if this is in Maphead, I've been meaning to pick that up.)

You guys should read The Power of Maps. Blew my mind regarding maps. I looked at the map of the world in my room after reading it, and looked at in a whole new way.

That was a cool slideshow. Did anyone see the pictures of the Swedish subway system that were on Reddit a month or two ago? Also, has anyone else checked this book out? I snagged a cheap used copy. It definitely focuses on the design aspect of the map, rather than tons of info about the subway, but it'll make any transit geek happy.